The Tin of Buttons at the Coin Shop

The shop was called Hendrik's Stamps and Coins, and it was smaller than most people's kitchens. Glass cases ran along both walls. Behind the counter, a hundred tiny drawers held paper squares, silver rounds and little magnifying glasses. Salma had worked there on Saturdays since the start of the school year.

Toko itu bernama Hendrik's Stamps and Coins, dan ukurannya lebih kecil daripada dapur kebanyakan orang. Etalase kaca memanjang di kedua dinding. Di balik meja, seratus laci mungil menyimpan kertas persegi, kepingan perak bundar, dan kaca pembesar kecil. Salma bekerja di sana setiap hari Sabtu sejak awal tahun ajaran.

She liked the quiet. She liked the way Hendrik talked to customers as if each one had come from a faraway country. Most of all, she liked that nobody in the shop ever asked her what she wanted to be.

Ia menyukai ketenangannya. Ia menyukai cara Hendrik berbicara kepada pelanggan seolah masing-masing datang dari negeri yang jauh. Terutama, ia menyukai kenyataan bahwa tak seorang pun di toko itu pernah bertanya kepadanya ingin menjadi apa kelak.

On the last Saturday of spring, a woman in a green coat pushed open the door. She carried a round biscuit tin with a faded picture of a lighthouse on the lid.

Pada hari Sabtu terakhir musim semi, seorang perempuan bermantel hijau mendorong pintu terbuka. Ia membawa kaleng biskuit bundar dengan gambar mercusuar yang pudar di tutupnya.

"I am clearing a cupboard," the woman said. "These were my neighbour's. She asked me to sell them to someone who will care."

"Saya sedang membereskan lemari," kata perempuan itu. "Ini milik tetangga saya. Dia meminta saya menjualnya kepada seseorang yang akan merawatnya."

"What are they?" Hendrik asked.

"Apa isinya?" tanya Hendrik.

"Buttons. Hundreds of them."

"Kancing. Ratusan."

She set the tin on the counter and opened it. Salma leaned forward. The buttons lay in the tin like a small, loud crowd. Some were glass, some were wood, and some were dull metal with tiny anchors on them. A few were as big as coins, and a few were smaller than her fingernail.

Ia meletakkan kaleng itu di meja dan membukanya. Salma mencondongkan badan. Kancing-kancing itu terhampar di dalam kaleng seperti kerumunan kecil yang riuh. Ada yang dari kaca, ada yang dari kayu, dan ada yang dari logam kusam dengan jangkar-jangkar mungil. Beberapa sebesar koin, dan beberapa lebih kecil daripada kuku jarinya.

Hendrik picked one up with tweezers and turned it under the lamp. "I am not an expert in buttons," he said. "But I know someone who is. May I keep the tin for the afternoon?"

Hendrik mengambil satu dengan penjepit dan memutarnya di bawah lampu. "Saya bukan ahli kancing," katanya. "Tapi saya kenal seseorang yang ahli. Bolehkah saya menyimpan kaleng ini sepanjang sore?"

"Of course," the woman said. "I will come back on Monday."

"Tentu," kata perempuan itu. "Saya akan kembali hari Senin."

When she left, Hendrik pushed the tin across the counter. "Salma, I have a job for you. Sort these, and tell me what you think we should do with them."

Ketika ia pergi, Hendrik mendorong kaleng itu melintasi meja. "Salma, aku punya tugas untukmu. Pilah ini, dan katakan padaku apa yang menurutmu harus kita lakukan dengannya."

"What do you mean, what we should do?"

"Maksudnya apa yang harus kita lakukan?"

"We have two good choices. I will explain after you look." He smiled. "I want to hear what you notice before I tell you what I think."

"Kita punya dua pilihan yang baik. Akan kujelaskan setelah kamu melihatnya." Ia tersenyum. "Aku ingin mendengar apa yang kamu perhatikan sebelum kukatakan apa pendapatku."

Salma spread a white cloth on the table in the back. She tipped the buttons out and began to sort them into piles by material. Glass, wood, shell, metal. It was slow work, but she found it calming.

Salma membentangkan kain putih di meja di ruang belakang. Ia menuangkan kancing-kancing itu dan mulai memilahnya menjadi tumpukan menurut bahan. Kaca, kayu, kerang, logam. Pekerjaannya lambat, tetapi ia merasa tenang.

At the bottom of the tin, she found something else. It was a roll of tiny paper tags, each one tied to a button with a thread. She counted nine. On each tag, someone had written a date and a short note in careful ink.

Di dasar kaleng, ia menemukan sesuatu yang lain. Segulung label kertas kecil, masing-masing terikat pada sebuah kancing dengan benang. Ia menghitung sembilan. Pada setiap label, seseorang menulis tanggal dan catatan singkat dengan tinta yang rapi.

She read the first. "March 4. Coat for the ferryman's son. Brass, four holes." She smiled. People wrote the most ordinary things.

Ia membaca yang pertama. "4 Maret. Mantel untuk putra tukang perahu. Kuningan, empat lubang." Ia tersenyum. Orang-orang menulis hal-hal yang paling biasa.

She read the second. "June 19. Wedding jacket, mother-of-pearl." She read the third. "October 2. School blazer, the button that fell in the soup."

Ia membaca yang kedua. "19 Juni. Jas pernikahan, kerang mutiara." Ia membaca yang ketiga. "2 Oktober. Blazer sekolah, kancing yang jatuh ke dalam sup."

She laughed out loud. Hendrik looked up from his catalogue.

Ia tertawa keras. Hendrik mendongak dari katalognya.

"What is funny?"

"Apa yang lucu?"

"These buttons have stories," Salma said. "The tags say whose coat each button came from. It looks like a tailor kept them."

"Kancing-kancing ini punya cerita," kata Salma. "Label-label ini menyebutkan mantel siapa asal tiap kancing. Sepertinya seorang penjahit menyimpannya."

Hendrik came over and bent to read. For a long moment, he said nothing. Then he whistled softly.

Hendrik menghampiri dan membungkuk untuk membaca. Untuk waktu yang lama, ia tidak berkata apa-apa. Lalu ia bersiul pelan.

"A tailor's record," he said. "That is something."

"Catatan seorang penjahit," katanya. "Ini sesuatu."

He went to the phone and made two calls. When he came back, he sat on the stool opposite her and counted on his fingers.

Ia pergi ke telepon dan menelepon dua kali. Ketika kembali, ia duduk di bangku di seberangnya dan menghitung dengan jarinya.

"Here are the two choices," he said. "The first is a collector I know. He loves old buttons, and he pays well for glass and brass. If you sort the best forty into a case, he will pay five times the tin price. The money would help the shop through the summer."

"Ini dua pilihannya," katanya. "Yang pertama seorang kolektor yang kukenal. Ia menyukai kancing tua, dan membayar mahal untuk kaca dan kuningan. Kalau kamu memilah empat puluh yang terbaik ke dalam sebuah etalase, ia akan membayar lima kali harga kaleng itu. Uangnya akan membantu toko melewati musim panas."

"And the second choice?" Salma asked.

"Dan pilihan kedua?" tanya Salma.

"The second is a woman who runs an art class at the primary school down the road. She wants buttons for a big picture on the hall wall. She can pay only a little, but she would use every button in the tin."

"Yang kedua seorang perempuan yang menjalankan kelas seni di sekolah dasar di ujung jalan. Ia menginginkan kancing untuk gambar besar di dinding aula. Ia hanya bisa membayar sedikit, tetapi ia akan memakai setiap kancing di kaleng itu."

Salma looked at the piles on the cloth. Both choices sounded fair. Hendrik was a good man, and the shop needed money. But the school picture sounded fun, and it would be seen by hundreds of children.

Salma memandang tumpukan-tumpukan di atas kain. Kedua pilihan terdengar adil. Hendrik orang baik, dan toko itu butuh uang. Tetapi gambar sekolah terdengar menyenangkan, dan akan dilihat ratusan anak.

"Which one would you pick?" she asked.

"Yang mana yang akan Bapak pilih?" tanyanya.

"That is exactly why I asked you," Hendrik said. "You found the tags. You have looked at them longer than I have. So you decide, and I will back you."

"Itulah sebabnya aku bertanya padamu," kata Hendrik. "Kamu yang menemukan label-label itu. Kamu sudah memandanginya lebih lama daripada aku. Jadi kamu yang memutuskan, dan aku akan mendukungmu."

The words made her stomach flutter. In her life, someone had always decided things for her. Her parents decided which school she attended. Her friends decided which cafe they visited. Nobody had ever said "you decide" and then waited.

Kata-kata itu membuat perutnya berdebar. Dalam hidupnya, selalu ada orang yang memutuskan segala sesuatu untuknya. Orang tuanya memutuskan sekolah mana yang ia masuki. Teman-temannya memutuskan kafe mana yang mereka kunjungi. Belum pernah ada yang berkata "kamu yang memutuskan" lalu menunggu.

She spent another hour with the buttons. She read all nine tags again. She looked at the glass ones in the light, and she weighed the brass ones in her hand. At four o'clock, she knew what she wanted to do.

Ia menghabiskan satu jam lagi bersama kancing-kancing itu. Ia membaca kesembilan label itu sekali lagi. Ia memandang kancing-kancing kaca di bawah cahaya, dan menimbang kancing-kancing kuningan di tangannya. Pukul empat, ia tahu apa yang ingin ia lakukan.

"I choose the school," she said.

"Saya pilih sekolah," katanya.

Hendrik leaned back. "Tell me why."

Hendrik bersandar. "Katakan alasannya."

"If we sell forty good buttons to the collector, we lose the rest. The tags would go to one case, and the plain buttons would go back into a drawer. Nobody would see the whole tin."

"Kalau kita menjual empat puluh kancing yang bagus kepada kolektor, kita kehilangan sisanya. Label-labelnya akan masuk ke satu etalase, dan kancing-kancing biasa akan kembali ke laci. Tak seorang pun akan melihat seluruh isi kaleng."

"True."

"Benar."

"But the school will use all of them. Each child will touch a button that was once on a real coat." She took a breath. "And the tags are like a little book. If the picture tells the stories, then the tin stays together. I think the tailor would have liked that."

"Tapi sekolah akan memakai semuanya. Setiap anak akan menyentuh kancing yang dulu ada di mantel sungguhan." Ia menarik napas. "Dan label-label itu seperti buku kecil. Kalau gambarnya menceritakan kisah-kisah itu, kaleng ini tetap utuh. Saya rasa si penjahit akan menyukainya."

Hendrik was quiet for a few seconds. Then he nodded slowly.

Hendrik diam beberapa detik. Lalu ia mengangguk perlahan.

"The money matters, you know," he said. "We will have a thin summer."

"Uang itu penting, kamu tahu," katanya. "Musim panas kita akan tipis."

"I know," Salma said. "But I can work extra days. Not because I must, but because I want to."

"Saya tahu," kata Salma. "Tapi saya bisa bekerja di hari-hari tambahan. Bukan karena harus, tetapi karena saya mau."

"You have thought about it carefully." He held out his hand, as if she were another dealer. "Then it is decided. I will call the school."

"Kamu sudah memikirkannya dengan cermat." Ia mengulurkan tangan, seolah Salma pedagang lain. "Kalau begitu sudah diputuskan. Aku akan menelepon sekolah."

On Monday, the woman in the green coat came back. Salma explained the choice. The woman laughed, then asked if she could visit the picture when it was finished.

Pada hari Senin, perempuan bermantel hijau itu kembali. Salma menjelaskan pilihannya. Perempuan itu tertawa, lalu bertanya apakah ia boleh mengunjungi gambar itu setelah selesai.

"Yes," Salma said. "I will make sure there is a sign."

"Boleh," kata Salma. "Saya akan memastikan ada papan keterangan."

Three weeks later, Hendrik closed the shop for an hour. The two of them walked down the road to the primary school. The hall smelled of floor wax and crayons. At the far end, high on the wall, a long mural climbed toward the ceiling. It showed a tailor's window, a lighthouse and a street full of people in coats. Every coat had real buttons stitched onto it.

Tiga minggu kemudian, Hendrik menutup toko selama satu jam. Keduanya berjalan menyusuri jalan ke sekolah dasar. Aula itu berbau lilin lantai dan krayon. Di ujung seberang, tinggi di dinding, sebuah mural panjang menjulang ke arah langit-langit. Mural itu menampilkan jendela penjahit, mercusuar, dan jalan yang penuh orang bermantel. Setiap mantel punya kancing sungguhan yang dijahitkan di atasnya.

The children had not left a single button out. Brass anchors shone on a sailor's jacket. A tiny glass one sat at the centre of a bride's sleeve. At the bottom of the mural, paper tags hung on threads. Each tag had a short note in a child's careful handwriting.

Anak-anak tidak melewatkan satu kancing pun. Jangkar-jangkar kuningan berkilau di jaket pelaut. Sebuah kancing kaca mungil duduk di tengah lengan baju pengantin. Di bagian bawah mural, label-label kertas menggantung pada benang. Setiap label berisi catatan singkat dalam tulisan tangan anak yang rapi.

Salma stood with her hands behind her back. The art class had gone home, and the hall was empty. Sun came through the tall windows and lay across the buttons like water. For a long moment, the whole wall seemed to glow. Beneath it, on a low shelf, the tin with the lighthouse on its lid sat open and empty.

Salma berdiri dengan tangan di belakang punggung. Kelas seni sudah pulang, dan aula itu kosong. Cahaya matahari masuk lewat jendela-jendela tinggi dan terhampar di atas kancing-kancing itu seperti air. Untuk waktu yang lama, seluruh dinding itu seakan berpendar. Di bawahnya, di rak rendah, kaleng bermotif mercusuar di tutupnya itu tergeletak terbuka dan kosong.